Diapers to be worn by growing babies and by adults must be comfortable while permitting free movement, and must be absorbent and economical, while avoiding irritation of the skin. Commonly, a diaper is formed of a rectangular piece of cloth that is secured to the baby or adult using pins. Because pins are inconvenient and since there has been in the past a movement toward disposability, diapers made of moisture absorbent paper and adhesive strips have been developed as a substitute for cloth diapers.
Although convenient, paper diapers tend to be expensive on a per-use basis, the adhesive strips tend to tear from the diaper and the fit is awkward. Furthermore, some babies and adults are allergic to paper diapers and, worst of all, there have been infant deaths by choking, caused by ingestion of the paper.
In response, there has been a recent return toward cloth diapers, with fasteners not of adhesive but rather of filamentary hook and loop material. In my co-pending application Ser. No. 315,049, filed Oct. 26, 1981, I have described a cloth diaper having filamentary type hook and loop fasteners that is adapted to be folded and secured, to accommodate infant growth. My later co-pending application Ser. No. 375,231, filed May 5, 1982, is directed toward, among other things, laundering of the diaper; self-closing attachment tabs protect the hook and loop filamentary material from lint during wash. Although satisfactory, the diapers of my applications tend to be costly to manufacture, since the hook and loop fasteners are provided on the diaper in several different places. The cost of hook and loop filamentary material is high, and manufacture of my prior diapers is labor intensive since the several pieces of filamentary material have to be separately stitched to the diaper. Furthermore, adjustment of the size of the diaper to the size of the wearer, although effective over a wide range of body sizes, requires several folding steps. Further, the filamentary fastening strips, being distributed on the outer surface of the diaper, limit the size adjustability of the diaper, and backfolding of the diaper toward the wearer for length adjustment, with material being bunched against the skin, is cumbersome.